Woman searches out wreck victim

Patricia Erickson was on her way to visit her son’s grave when she came upon a head-on car crash. The drivers were 20-year-old Heather Nicole Hickman and 26-year-old Brian Wilson Sawyer. Both were in bad shape.

Erickson, along with others who stopped along Dallas Spencer Mountain Road near Ranlo, rushed to help. She came first to Sawyer.

“He was in shock,” she said. “I took a blanket and wrapped it around him.”

She tried to keep Sawyer calm as they waited for paramedics. When medical help arrived, Erickson left, praying for the best. Weeks later, Sawyer was still on her mind. But she didn’t even know his name, much less what happened to him.

“I want to know a name to say in my prayers …” she said.

Sawyer reminded Erickson of her son. Andrew Erickson died April 2012 after slipping into a hypoglycemic seizure in his sleep. He had battled juvenile diabetes since the age of 6 and was 27 years old when he died.

Erickson and Gale Entler, another mother who lost her 27-year-old son founded the 27 Forever Foundation.

So Erickson, no stranger to loss, worried about whether Sawyer had emerged from the Feb. 17 crash. Calls to police departments offered little solace. No one could seem to tell her how the wreck victims were doing — or even if they had survived.

The Gazette tracked down the N.C. Highway Patrol report to ease her mind. Sawyer and Hickman are both recovering from the crash, even if it is more slowly than they’d like, Sawyer said. Both suffered extensive injuries. Sawyer can’t walk yet, and won’t for a few more months, he said.

“We should’ve died,” he said. He suffered a broken pelvis, cracked hip, cracked tailbone and internal bleeding, along with other scrapes and bruises.

Erickson was ecstatic to know the young man was alive and well.

“Oh my God. What wonderful news,” she said.

Sawyer doesn’t remember Patricia Erickson at the scene, but remembers a lot of people, neighbors and drivers who’d stopping to help. An older man kept him still and others helped the driver of the other car.

Sawyer said he’s thankful for everyone who rushed out to help.

“It seemed like there were a whole bunch of people out there,” she said. “It was a blessing to have everyone come over to help us.”

You can reach reporter Lauren Baheri at 704-869-1842 or Twitter.com/lbaheri.